Los Angeles daily herald., 1887-01-08
FRUIT DEsTROYERS.
some Facts AbOut Insect rests
that are Prevalent.

that are Prevalent.
Russian River Flag.l
Within two weeks we have learned
much about the fruit destroying insects
which are injecting the orchards OF So
noma county. 1t is not alone the cot
tonv moth that is doing the damage.
Fruit growers have told us of the raw
aces OF the red scale, of the Goblin moth,
of some insects which they could not
designate by name. The infection is
not generally alike. One orchard may
be full of pests and another adjoining
nearly untouched.
The propagation of insect pests is
natural phenomenon, so wonderful is
their multiplication and their migration
and distributi tion is no less wonderful. 1t
is not difficult TO tell how the cottony
moth came to Sonoma county. They
were brought here on apple boxes and are
principally on young trees. There are
Young orchards on Dry creek and in
Alexander valley where number OF the
trees were infected when they were set
out. The number may not average one
in twenty. Yet the important fact is,
the orchard is infected.
It is easy to see how the pests will
spread, and multiply, and riot in our or
chards. A bird, with fruit in its bill,
may drop single embryo as it flies
over an orchard; the embryo natures,
the sun matches out the insect, and
thriving colony of thousand fruit.des'
troying bugs are established in single
tree. A farmer may hitch his team
to the plaza fence in Healdsburg; he
drives home with perhaps a hundred
moths in his wagon, adrift from the trees
in the plaza. A nursery In another
county ships thousand trees to Santa
Rosa or Petaluma or Healdsburg; a
hundred trees of the Thousand secrete
in their tender bark the insects eggs or
the pest itself.
A possible result, and a not improba'
BILE one, is the gradual ruin OF all the
orchards in SonoRa county. Mr.. Cot
tie, of Geyserville, says that within two
years there will not be sound apple
ktree in the county unless the increase OF
THE Goblin moth shall bs checked. and
Mr., Bouton, of Washington, confirms
the statement. Mr.. Pluck and Mr..
Sawtell, of Healdsburg, experienc ed or
chardists, take gloomy views Of the sit.
uatiop, and can predict nothing but dis
aster to the horticultural interests in
Sonoma county under existing condi-
tions. A hundred other orchardists are
ready to relate their experience and to
predict ruin to fruit-growers if some
check is not made to the ravages of in
sect pests.
Fighting insect pests is not new
thing in California. The Legislature of
the State has made provision for proper
officers to conduct war of extermina-
ton. The law provides for the ap.
pointment of County Boards of Horti-
cultural Commissioners. 1t is the
duty of such commissioners to make
inspection, to discover infected orchards
or trees. to apply every known remedy,
and as a last resort to cut down and
burn infected trees. Sonoma county
needs Board of Horticultural Com
missioners. The Russian river country
will alone furnish employment to them
for q number of years. Healdsburg
needs thorough going over. and a crit
ical inspection and disinfection. Per
sons who prefer diseased tree to
sound one need to bS compelled to
abate their orchard nuisance. All the
authority of the law. represented by
bmmissioners, is needed to prevent the
htire decay and ruin of the truit-grow-
/ ing industry in Sonoma county.